How to Give a Car to a Fiance as a Gift With Taxes in Virginia

If youre engaged to be married and have an extra car you dont need while your fiance is in desperate need of transportation, a logical solution is to gift the car over to your new partner. Gifting a car to your fiance simply means that you agree to transfer it to her name without requesting payment in return. In Virginia, both you and your fiance must comply with car transfer rules that still require a sales tax payment on the transaction.

Instructions

1

Write an official bill of sale between you and your fiance. Even though you are soon to be married, you must still have a formal agreement describing the transaction. Write in the bill of sale that the car is a gift to your fiance (use her full name and contact information) with a sales price of zero dollars.

2

Sign the back of your current Virginia title, and fill out Section A. Enter your fiances current name (maiden name if still an unmarried woman) as the new owner as well as her address. Write Gift under the sales price section.

3

Hand your fiance the signed title, keys and car (take the license plates off first) -- it is now her vehicle to register. Transfer your plates to another vehicle or return them to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.

4

Visit your local Department of Motor Vehicles office with your fiance to title and register the vehicle in her name (she can go alone as well). Ensure that she pays the required sales tax. Since the sales price was zero, the sales tax fee is equal to 3 percent of the NADA (National Automobile Dealers Association) trade-in value for the car. The Virginia DMV issues a new title in your fiances name via mail.